Back before the summer I made some book shelves for my D&D terrain, I was pretty pleased with it and showed it on here. Shortly after I was asked if I'd thought about making moulds of my furniture - no I answered truthfully, the thought had never crossed my mind in fact! However from that innocent query, the thought about making moulds of some of my pieces has never really fully left my mind....
Fast forward to passed my degree assignments/commitments and that nagging thought is still sitting in my brain. A little further down the line and I begin a massive undertaking, which I decide to call the "Urban Project". For this project I want to recreate houses and businesses etc, all of which need to be furnished - for "massive undertaking" read "totally foolhardy"! So I set about sculpting sofas and other pieces out blue foam, which takes ages even when its a fairly simple piece, like the sofas below...
I got a "Not" Dremel multi-tool for my wedding anniversary from Missus Gobbo and this sped up the sculpting process and also allowed me to add different techniques to it.
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| before Dremel |
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| post Dremel! |
However I still faced an uphill battle to get all the pieces scuplted over and over again. Step forward the mould idea that had been sitting in my brain for so long...
I went on t'internet and did some research and decided to purchase some "Blue Stuff" from Green Stuff World, an excellent Spanish company. Bluestuff is a Thermoplastic that softens in hot water allowing you to make moulds of various objects. On the website it recommends using milliput with the moulds however for the sheer volume of furniture I require I went for the much cheaper and still just as good -
yup at £4 per kilogram of clay,it is a perfectly good substitute for my purposes. So after softening the Blue Stuff I created these moulds of my sofas...
which when dry became....
with a 28mm zombie for scale....
and a drop of paint....
A little rough and ready but I think good enough to pass muster
The best bit about the moulds is you stick it in the hot water and you can remould it easily. Next up - Kitchen units!
hope you enjoy
dGG
Very nice Andy, Instant Mould is very useful stuff. Even though you can reuse it I always seem to run out as the moulds I've made I keep reusing !
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've already recycled the sofas into kitchen unit. >> into beds...lol
DeleteVery productive Andy :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tamsin :-)
DeleteThat's very clever, Andy. I think I'd want to keep the moulds as well.
ReplyDeleteI've kept the original pieces, so I can always remould them ;-)
DeleteVery good bit of moulding and a great deal easier thean making them all individually.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, although why I need so much interior detail for the demo game I don't know, but when I start these things I can't seem to stop....
DeleteI have checked out "Blue stuff" (I was previously unaware) and it may be the answer to one of my problems. Thank you very much for brining it to my attention.
ReplyDeleteIf you go on Jewellery sites Clint it's called instant mould and cheaper as long as you don't mind the glittery colours
DeleteNo worries mate, the blustuff is great and Dave is confident in the instant moulds so hopefully we've got you covered :-)
DeleteSplendid work Gobbo!
ReplyDeleteThanks mate, they are not perfect but certainly decent enough!
DeleteThese are great dude!
ReplyDeleteCheers Simon ;-)
DeleteCrackin' job Grommit
ReplyDeleteMore cheese.... ;-)
DeleteInspired and beautiful job!
ReplyDeleteCheers Phil :-)
DeleteQuite good! Those couches really look great, and help set the stage.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the long-term durability of the DAS though? I have used a similar air dry clay before and it got rather crumbly after a while.
TBH, I don't know I've never used it before. I've varnished the pieces so we'll have to see.
DeleteGreat stuff Andy, and an idea I will just HAVE to steal 😀 If you're worried about Das clay "cracking" etc, work some PVA glue into it before you press it into the moulds 😉
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea WA, ta :-)
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